The Superplastic Forming process

Superplastic Forming (SPF) is a cutting-edge technology used to produce complex metal parts, especially titanium or aluminum. During the forming cycle, these materials are heated to a superplastic state: about 920°C for titanium and 520°C for aluminum. In this state, their elongation capacity becomes exceptional, allowing an extreme deformation without cracking, ideal for sophisticated geometries.

A sheet is placed between a mould and a lid, heated up to the above temperature, before being slowly pushed against the shape by gradual injection of an inert gas (argon), up to 50 bars. This process, mastered thanks to our proprietary software OPSYS, allows for extremely precise control of temperature and deformation speed, guaranteeing an unequaled part quality.

Superplastic forming allows the manufacturing of parts with geometries impossible to obtain by other technologies such as conventional stamping or hot forming. Thanks to elongation rates up to 800%, this technology allows very high deformations without breakage, even on alloys difficult to work, such as titanium. It is ideal for producing complex shapes in a single operation, such as aircraft access doors, while ensuring extreme precision.

Thanks to its ability to form highly complex geometries in a single cycle, SPF reduces production costs by 20 to 30%, making it particularly competitive for medium to large rates (from 50 to 10,000 parts). The process ensures consistent part quality with exceptional repeatability. Depending on the part’s complexity, cycle times range from 1 to 4 hours and allows several parts to be formed at once from the same sheet.
Superplastic forming combines cost-efficiency and repeatability.